The present invention relates generally to the timber products industry, and particularly to methods and apparatus for use in the manufacture of reconstituted or reconsolidated wood products. The manufacture of reconsolidated wood products is well known in the timber industry. U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,067 discloses a method for making a reconsolidated wood product, wherein the wood product comprises numerous wood splinters, a substantial proportion of the wood splinters being substantially separately defined but non-discrete the splinters being bonded together. The bonding of the wood splinters may be produced by the use of a suitable bonding agent or alternatively the splinters may be treated with a suitable material to render plastic the outer surfaces of the splinters whereby they can be bonded by application of pressure thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,684 discloses a process for the production of reconsolidated wood products. The patent describes a process for the partial rending of wood to form a flexible open lattice work web of naturally interconnected wood strands that are generally aligned along a common grain direction. The rending describe within the patent is achieved by rolling the natural wood between a pair of rollers, arranged with generally parallel axes, so as to engage the natural wood from either side with repetitive back and forth movements of one roller relative to the other roller.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,689 describes a process for forming a reconsolidated wood product, wherein a bonding agent is applied to a lattice work web of interconnected wood strands that are subsequently subjected to compression in order to consolidate the interconnected wood strands into the reconsolidated wood product. A wax is applied to the wood strands before the application of the bonding agent in order to limit the pick-up of the bonding agent by the wood strands.
It is also well known in the timber industry to use steam in methods and apparatus for producing reconstituted wood products. Currently many methods utilize steam in conjunction with wood component compression methods or steam injection compression within the processes of making reconstituted or reconsolidated wood products. The wood component steaming processes are most effective when used in conjunction with adhesives or bonding agents in order to combine the wood component materials together into a structurally sound resulting wood product. In the above examples, steam pressing is employed to compress the wood components in addition to applying heat to the compressed wood products in order to cure the bonding agent or adhesive with which the wood component materials are mixed. Traditionally, a charge of wood component and adhesive or bonding agent is compressed between two platens, wherein thereafter steam is introduced to the wood component and adhesive/bonding agent mixture in order to form the final wood product. The steam supplies the heat for plasticizing the wooden components and for curing the adhesive or bonding agent that has been applied to the wood component in order to create the final wood product.
The above-described processes have been found to produce sufficient wood products. However, the quality of a resultant wood product is influenced by the quality of the wood strands that are used to form the respective wood product in addition to the specific steaming and pressing operations that implemented in order to produce the final wood product. Therefore, it is an aim of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus that overcomes and improves upon existing methods and apparatus for the forming of steam-pressed long fiber reconstituted or reconsolidated wood products.